Why is the devotion to wealth and property of people who do not live by the moral values of the Qur’an in fact great heedlessness that believers scrupulously avoid?

How do believers use their wealth and possessions on Allah’s path?

What secret does our Lord reveal in the Qur’an for believers who spend all their wealth and assets on Allah’s path?

People who do not live by the moral values of the Qur’an suffer various pains; these people even make the desire to “possess wealth and property” their greatest aim in life. Allah describes such people as “trying to outdo one another in wealth” in the Qur’an (Surat al-Hadid, 20). But this desire is literally a delusion because it is Allah Who owns everything in the world. People deceive themselves when they imagine they “own possessions.” They did not personally create the things they imagine they possess, and they have no power whatsoever to maintain them. Neither can they prevent them ceasing to exist. Moreover, there is no question of them “owning” anything; because they themselves are under the control of Allah, “the king of Mankind” (Surat an-Nas, 2). In the Qur’an it is revealed that all objects and entities belong to Allah, our Creator:

“Everything in the heavens and everything on the earth and everything in between them and everything under the ground belongs to Him.” (Surah Ta Ha, 6)

Believers, who have faith in Allah and attach no undue importance to the transitory baubles of this world, who know that all things come from Allah alone and who therefore spend what they have on His path, may hope for Almighty Allah’s mercy and paradise. Since they prefer the life of the hereafter, which Allah says will last for all eternity, over the life of this world, it is actually they who are the wealthy ones.

Believers Fervently Spend Their Assets on Allah’s Path

As revealed in the verse “[There are men who are] not distracted by trade or commerce from the remembrance of Allah and the establishment of prayer and the payment of alms; fearing a day when all hearts and eyes will be in turmoil –“ (Surat an-Nur, 37), one of the things that people today most give themselves over to is making money and possessing goods and property. Yet in that verse, Allah reveals that believers must be filled with passion for Him alone, and that their hearts can only be contented by repeating His name, and that they fear losing His approval by behaving in any other way. Believers have a strong desire to give their possessions to others in need, for the purpose of gaining the approval of Allah, to whom they are so passionately devoted. Another verse reveals how all wealth belongs to Allah alone:

“Spend in the Way of Allah. Do not cast yourselves into destruction. And do good: Allah loves good-doers.” (Surat al-Baqara, 195)

Someone who thinks by the light of his own criteria thinks that he will become wealthier by not sharing his possessions with anyone and hiding and hoarding them, and that this is the only way he can guarantee his own future. He believes that anything he gives away – even if he has no need of it – will make him poorer, and that anything he loses now will endanger his future comfort. But things are not at all as he imagines. Allah reveals in the Qur’an, as a miracle, that a person who spends on His path and who gives alms will acquire greater possessions and abundance.

But someone who analyzes events only by external criteria may easily be deceived by this deception of satan’s. For example, he may be about to give his shirt to someone in need when satan whispers that if he does so, he will have to go without it, that he may need it one day, and that it would be better to hold onto it. And indeed, it would appear on the surface that he would be deprived of a shirt, but if he forgets that Allah bestows many times over on whom He wishes, on who has much purity, then he has fallen into heedlessness. Indeed, Allah tells us in one verse that:

“The metaphor of those who spend their wealth in the Way of Allah is that of a grain which produces seven ears; in every ear there are a hundred grains.” (Surat al-Baqara, 261)

The example in the verse is a secret revealed by Almighty Allah to believers in the Qur’an. For that reason, believers spend solely in order to win Allah’s good pleasure, mercy, paradise and abundance. So long as they expend their goods and possessions on Allah’s path and are careful about what is lawful and unlawful, Almighty Allah will increase their wealth, smooth their way and create many more opportunities for them to spend on His path. Every believer experiences this secret in his own life, by having no fears for the future, fearing Allah and keeping to His bounds. In this way, he receives the reward for spending on Allah’s path, and also further abundance.

Therefore, someone who turns a deaf ear to the deceptions of satan’s and gives to those in need is actually behaving in the best way for himself. He receives the reward for spending on Allah’s path, and also further abundance.

On the other hand, the believer’s aim in giving is not to obtain more for himself, because what counts is the pure intention behind that giving. Therefore, it is the fact that this obligation is performed with a love of Allah, with sincerity , expecting no reward and with pure intentions that validates it in the Sight of Allah. Another example Allah gives in the Qur’an on this subject is:

"The metaphor of those who spend their wealth, desiring the pleasure of Allah and firmness for themselves, is that of a garden on a hillside. When heavy rain falls on it, it doubles its produce; and if heavy rain does not fall, there is dew. Allah sees what you do. (Surat al-Baqara, 265)

Believers Regard Assets As a Means by Which to Give Thanks and Draw Closer to Allah

A believer’s interest in having possessions stems from his regarding this blessing as an instrument for giving thanks to and drawing closer to Allah. This is a natural state of mind stemming from a passionate love of Allah and is acquired through fervent faith, reason, depth, altruism and lofty moral virtues. The Qur’an cites this example of this superior morality possessed by believers:

“We gave David Solomon. What an excellent servant! He truly turned to his Lord.
When swift horses, champing at the bit, were displayed before him in the afternoon,
he said, ‘I have put the love of good things above the remembrance of my Lord until the sun disappeared behind its veil.
Return them to me!’ And he set about slashing through their shanks and necks.” (Surah Sad, 30-33)

As can be seen from these verses, it is love of Allah and the intention of remembering Him that lie at the root of believers’ love of possessions. As in the example of the Prophet Solomon (pbuh), only believers who love Allah with a passion can understand the deep joy that His servants who regard possessions as simply a means of giving thanks to Allah for His blessings, experience from fulfilling this obligation.

Why Does Accumulating Possessions Benefit One Nothing?

As manifested in the name, Ganiy, Almighty Allah is He Who needs nothing. It is therefore a grave error to be parsimonious and accumulate possessions out of a fear of the future inspired by satan. As is said in the verse "Every self will taste death…" (Surat al’Ankabut, 57) Allah says, everyone must one day die and be unable to take anything with them, not even their own bodies. It is therefore of no use to accumulate and hoard possessions in order to satisfy earthly greed. On the Day of Reckoning, everyone will have to give account alone, in the Sight of Allah. Everyone will be asked about his faith, and wealth and possessions in this world will be of no use to him at all. This fact is revealed as follows in another verse from the Qur’an:

“As for those who do not believe, their wealth and children will not help them against Allah in any way. They are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, for ever.” (Surah Al-’Imran, 116)

Mr. Adnan Oktar describes how everything belongs to Allah:

Muslims are humble. How? They know that Allah creates all things and that everything belongs to Allah. They know that Allah created their speech and their bodies and the images they see. They know that nothing belongs to them. And as a result? They know they are nothing. And what happens to someone who knows he is nothing? He is humble. Since I describe the essence of this, anyone who fully understands it will inevitably be humble. If he knows he is nothing and that all power lies with Allah, if he knows that Allah created his image, his speech, his feelings and everything, and if he knows that He created these infinitely long ago, and that he will be preserved by Allah for all time, then he will know his own helplessness. We say “SubhanAllah” to Almighty Allah. “O Lord, you are unfettered by any flaw,” we say. But what about us? We have all flaws and defects and deficiencies on top of us. We are helpless and nothing. Allah is the one absolute being, and we are nothing, insha’Allah. (10 September 2011, A9 TV)

There Is No Accumulating Possessions in the Qur’an

“Economizing” is permissible in Islam, but not “accumulating possessions.” Believers trust only in Allah, not in goods to be accumulated. And Allah increases their wealth in return for that trust in Him. He gives them much more than what they expend (on His path). But they expend that, too, and so Allah further multiplies His blessings on them. The abundance that comes from this expenditure is revealed thusly in another verse:

“The metaphor of those who spend their wealth in the Way of Allah is that of a grain which produces seven ears; in every ear there are a hundred grains.” (Surat al-Baqara, 261)

But the position of those who have goods and do not expend them on good causes is revealed as follows:

“... who has amassed wealth and hoarded it!
He thinks his wealth will make him live for ever.
No indeed! He will be flung into the Shatterer.
And what will convey to you what the Shatterer is?
The kindled Fire of Allah.” (Surat al-Humazah, 2-6)